Mechanical draft water-cooling tower



July 27, 1948.

J. G. DE FLON EI'AL MECHANICAL DRAFT WATER COOLING TOWER Original Filed June 15, 1945 W & 3% ha .w. w

HTTOEAEY Patented July 27, 1948 I MECHANICAL DRAFT WATER-COOLING TOWER James G. De Flon, Los Angeles, and George W. Meyer, North Hollywood, Calif., assignors to The Floor Corporation, Ltd., Los Angeles, Calif.,

a corporation of California Continuation of application Serial No. 599,682,

June 15, 1945. This application May 23, 1947,.

Serial No. 749,987

, 6 Claims. 1

This invention has to do generally with immovements in mechanical draft water cooling towers, particularly of the multiple cell type comprising a continuous succession of chambers or cells having bottom'side wall inlets through which air is taken to flow upwardly through the cells,

counter-currently to the down-flowing water.

Our general and primary object is to improve such mechanical draft cooling towers with respect both to structural characteristics, and also the air entrance and distribution in the cells,to the end that the operating efficiency 'is materially improved. Certain aspects and advantages of the invention are applicable to both forced draft towers, i. e. in which the air is discharged through the. cells by fans in their side walls, and also to induced draft towers, i. e. in which fans posi- I tloned at the tops of the cells induce upward air inlet thus extending along and being confined to the straight opposite sides of the cells. It has been found that with such arrangement of the inlets, the air rising within the cells does not become distributed across their entire cross-sectional areas with the uniformity required for most efiicient heat exchange between the total quantities'of water and air flowing through the cells. channel or center toward the interior of each cell, leaving relatively little and low velocity air flow in the comer areas of the cell. Thus, with provision made for uniform water distribution across the cell area, the quantities of air in the comer spaces are inadequate to cool to thefmaximum possible temperature the water which they contact, whereas the air flowing through the central portion of the cell may be in excess of that required for complete cooling of the water which it contacts.

from the conventional rectangular cross-section cessive cells, their outer walls include angular sections occupying what normally would be the corner areas of rectangular cells, and forming in the tower structure vertically extending recesses from which air is taken into the cells. Thusthe angular wall sections eliminate the usual corner spaces in the cell, and serve to contain inlets which, together with inlets in the extreme outer side walls, substantially extend the locations of air entry about the cell's periphery. Preferably the cells are given octagonal shape so that in. their contiguous arrangement, the adjacent angular wall sections form V-shaped recesses from which air is drawn into the corners adjacent ends of the cell. i

For further details reference is had to the accompanying drawing illustrative of the invention in one of its typical and preferred forms. In the drawing:

I Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a two-cell tower;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on line 2-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a reduced scale cross-section on line 33 of Fig. 2, no showing being made in this view of the interior decking and baflles.

As illustrative, the invention is shown to be embodied in an induced draft towerhaving two The difficulty is that the air flow tends to Accordingly, at the cell juncture, the corner walls In accordance with the invention we have.

changed the shape and formations of the cell in a manner resulting in substantial elimination of the described conditions in the corner areas, and in so doing have retained the cells in contiguous or in continuously successive "arrangement. Briefly, the invention contemplates departing cells, generally indicated ,at I0 and II, it being understood that the showing is typical only and that any greaternumber of cells may be em-' ployed, depending upon the required water cooling capacity of the tower. As best illustrated in,

Fig. 3, adjacent cells may have a common vertical end wall I2 and individually the cells are octagona1 in shape and formed by outer side walls I3,

end walls l4 and the angular corner walls I5.

Above the inlets I1, the side and angular walls are of closed (i. e.- no'n-apertured) formation.

l5 form V-shaped recesses I6 extending considerable distances inwardly of the tower and vertically throughout its height. As illustrated, air

.inlets are provided at I! in the bottom portions of the walls 13 at both sides of the cells, and also at 18 in the angular corner walls IS, the inlets in each instance beingbafiled by inclined louvers l 9.

Otherwise the individual cells may be constructedand equipped with respect to the fan arrangement and mounting, the water distributsuitable frame-supported mounting 23.

is supplied to the'cell below the usual drift elim- I shown to be closed at its top by a wall 20 containing a fan ring assembly 2! within which. is mounted the motor driven fan 22 carried or; a Wa er inators 24 to a header 25 from which the water is showered or sprayed over the filler decking or bailles 28 to be finally collected in the basin 21.

The down-flowing water is contacted by air being drawn by the fan upwardly through the cell chamber from locations of entry at both the v outer sides and corners of the cell, as permitted by the inlets l1 and i8. By reason of the recessed configuration of the cell arrangement at l6, air is drawn from a single recess space through the angular corner inlets of contiguous cells. Due to the cell formation and the inlet arrangement, we have been able to eliminate the dead air spaces existing in the corners of the conventional cells,

and have obtained a far greater uniformity of air distribution and flow through the cross-sectional areas of the cell by reason of the extended .relation of the air inlets to the cell perimeters.

From an operational standpoint, the effect is to produce a marked increase in the total heat transfer from water to air and in th performance efficiency of the tower,

' This application is a continuation of our application Serial No. 599,682, filed June 15, 1945, on Mechanical draft water cooling towers,

Y which has been abandoned.

We claim:

1. A mechanical draft water cooling tower comprising walls forming asuccession of alined cells, adjacent cells being separated by a common wall. means for mechanically inducing air flow upwardly through said cells, the side walls of the cells having portions extending inwardly of the tower at said common wall of successive cells, said inwardly extending portions of the walls containing inlets at the bottoms of the cells through which air is drawn into the cells, and said side walls above the inlets being of closed formation.

a 2. A mechanical draft water cooling tower comprising walls forming a succession of alined cells, adjacent cells being separated by a common wall, means .for, mechanically inducing air flow upwardly through said cells, the side walls of the cells having outer alined planar sections and continuing portions converging inwardly of the tower at said common wall of successive cells, said planar sections and converging portions containing inletsat 'thebottoms of the cells through which air is drawn into the cells, and said side walls above the inlets being-of closed formation.

3. A mechanical draft water cooling tower comprising walls forming a succession of alined cells, adjacent .cells being separated by a common wall,

. means for mechanically inducing air flow upwardly through said cells, the sid walls of the cells having portions converging inwardly of the tower to form V-shaped recesses extending substantially the height 6: said walls and having their apices alined with said common wall, said converging portions of the walls containing inlets atthe bottoms of the cells through which air is drawn into the cells, and said side walls above the inlets being of closed formation.

4. A mechanical draft water cooling tower comprising vertically extending walls forming a continuous succession of alined cells having substantially octagonal horizontal cross-section, adjacent cells being separated by a common wall,

means for mechanically inducing air flow u-pwardly through the cells, adjacent side walls of the cells converging inwardly of the tower to form V-shaped recesses having their apices alined with said common wall, the lower portions of said converging walls containing inlets through which air is drawn into the cells, and saidsid walls above theinlets' being of closed formation,

5. A mechanical draft water'cooling tower comprising vertically extending walls forming a continuous succession of alined cells having substantially octagonal horizontal cross-section, adjacent cells being separated by a common wall,

means for mechanically inducing air flow upwardly through the cells, adjacent side walls of the cells converging inwardly of. the tower to form V-shaped recesses having their apices alined with said common wall, the lower portions of said converging walls together with the lower outside sections of the walls between said convergent portions containing inlets through which air is drawn into the cells, and said side walls above the inlets being of closed formation.

6. A mechanical draft water cooling tower comprising vertically extending walls forming a continuous succession of alined cells having substantially octagonal horizontal cross-section, ad-

jacent cells being separated by a common wall,

JAMES G. DE FLON.

GEORGE W. MEYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: I

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 224,557 Great Britain May 21, 1925 284,018 Great Britain Jan. 23. 1928 536,882

Germany Oct. 28, 1931 

